1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method for obtaining power consumption information, and more particularly, to a method and a system for recognizing the power consumption behaviors of electric appliances by taking a loop as a unit.
2. Description of Related Art
The concepts of environmental protection and energy conservation have been brought up and increasingly focused along with the decrease of petroleum, electricity, and other natural resources. According to statistical data, about 39% of all energy resources is consumed in our residential environment. Thus, smart meters with energy calculation and management functions are used in more and more buildings in order to provide different power consumption information related to the residential environment in real time.
Generally speaking, the most direct method of understanding the power consumption status of each electric appliance in a building is to dispose a measuring device (for example, a small electricity meter) on each electric appliance. In addition, if the power consumption status of each electric appliance is to be collected and analyzed, a radio frequency (RF) communication device or a power line communication (PLC) device needs to be installed on the electric appliance or the panel meter such that the power consumption information of the electric appliance can be sent to a backend platform to be analyzed. However, if there are too many electric appliances in a building, the method of disposing a measuring device and a communication device on each of the electric appliances will be too labor-consuming and cost-consuming.
On the other hand, even though some electric appliances with built-in power measurement devices in the market can obtain their own power consumption information, the prices of these electric appliances are usually too high. Furthermore, external measuring devices and communication devices still have to be disposed on existing electric appliances in a building to obtain the power consumption infoimation thereof if not all the electric appliances in the building are replaced.